Volume
8, no. 1:

Correspondence regarding Organ Works by the Düben Family

I feel compelled to take a position against the review of my edition Organ
Works by the Düben Family by David Harris1,
as it gives the reader a rather inaccurate view of it, and, more seriously,
does not seem to grasp the editorial idea behind it. First, while questioning
my (tentative) attribution of Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren from
Lynar B 1 to Gustav Düben on grounds of the tenderness of his age,
he does not mention what led me to do this in the first place, namely the
strong inner connections of the source with Stockholm and the Düben
family. (Moser's attribution to Drückenmuller, on the other hand,
was a complete shot in the dark and should be ignored; incidentally, the
composer of Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält is Andreas,
not Martin as stated by Harris.) Secondly, while I indeed do not describe
the sources in all diplomatic detail, which in my view is not necessary
in a composer- (as opposed to source-) oriented edition like this, Harris
fails to mention the full discussion of the context of the Düben pieces,
which is of much more relevance for the raison d'être of the edition.
Thirdly (and most importantly), I disagree with the view that all editorial
emendations up to such minor details such as missing dots and rests should
be made visible in the text; this produces an unnecessarily cluttered graphical
picture, and players on the whole do not want to be bothered with many
square brackets, small print etc. when they are actually playing the music.
I would like to emphasize in this connection that I do not share Harris's
obvious doubts about the user's ability to read the preface and the critical
commentary (where naturally all such decisions are elucidated); I preferred
not to underrate their critical acumen, but instead aimed here and elsewhere
to lay out all the material in as elegant and user-friendly way as possible.

Nowhere does my review convey doubt concerning "the users' ability to
read the preface and the critical commentary." Rather, it is a question
of whether a critical report alone suffices for an edition where so much
reconstruction has taken place, reconstruction not just of the "minor details
such as rests and dots" that Dirksen mentions, but apparently and more
importantly of pitches and of rhythms beyond dotted notes. I am certain
that many potential users of the edition, performers as well as scholars,
would very much like to see, looking at the music itself, exactly which
readings lack authority. That such substantive emendations are not identified
on the page with the music, though other editorial initiatives like additional
ornaments are clearly marked, remains my chief reservation. And it still
seems to me that readers deserve an indication, with the music, that two
movements in a "suite," itself an editorial compilation, lack the attribution
present in the other two movements and are therefore open to question,
as, indeed, is the "suite" itself.

References

*Pieter
Dirksen (pieter.dirksen@freeler.nl)
performs widely as a harpsichordist and organist and is the author of The
Keyboard Music of Jan P. Sweelinck — Its Style, Significance and Influence
(Utrecht, 1997).

**David Harris (dh1376@attbi.com)
is the Levitt Professor of Music History and Harpsichord at Drake University;
his critical edition of the collected keyboard works of Johann Kuhnau
is to be published shortly by The Broude Trust, and he is preparing a
new edition of D'Anglebert's keyboard works, also for The Broude Trust.

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